Okay. I get it. His numbers are high, but like you say, they aren't crazy high. With a little insulin, he should do very well. I'm not sure why they made it difficult. Type II's do take insulin all the time. I would start fresh with a new doctor or find an endocrinologist who deals a lot with diabetics.

Did they prescribe a long acting insulin like Humolog or Levemir, to be taken one or twice per day?

07-29-2013, 04:48 PM

Brooks

Re: Food and Health?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Debb70

Okay. I get it. His numbers are high, but like you say, they aren't crazy high. With a little insulin, he should do very well. I'm not sure why they made it difficult. Type II's do take insulin all the time. I would start fresh with a new doctor or find an endocrinologist who deals a lot with diabetics.

Did they prescribe a long acting insulin like Humolog or Levemir, to be taken one or twice per day?

I don't remember the terms for it...there were 2 insulins, a base to be taken every morning at a set amount and another to be taken before mealtime adjusted based on his blood glucose number, irrespective of what he was about to eat, which even ADA agrees is wrong, wrong, wrong...

This endocrinologist group is very large. But incompetent, like pretty much all the ones in my area appear to be. Hubby can't do well with insulin because he isn't emotionally up to doing it and he doesn't really eat "meals". The doctor he trusts is his cardiologist (different hospital group) so he's relying on him to manage his various metabolic syndrome conditions. Reasonable to a point. Without hubby being willing to test blood glucose as needed it doesn't much matter who he listens to. Very slowly he's reading labels and changing some of what he eats and drinks.

07-30-2013, 04:14 PM

Debb70

Re: Food and Health?

Okay. I get it. He was prescribed one long acting and one short acting that is taken before meals. That's what I take. It's challenging. That's for sure. I had to go for classes when I first got started. Now, I can figure it out in my head and give myself shots blindfolded. It doesn't hurt either. (Oh, you don't have to eat meals, if that's his hold up. You do have to check your blood sugar A LOT. You can't get around that.)

If he's not motivated, it's unlikely he will hang in there and keep trying to get it adjusted. It takes years for most people to get the right formula. They still adjust mine sometimes. The beauty though, is that it gives you flexibility in the dishes you want. My endo told me to pick the treats and dishes I love and have them a couple of times per week. He said to never mark something off. I just need to limit how often I have it.

Good luck with your husband's condition.

07-31-2013, 12:22 AM

candor

Re: Food and Health?

I can see how it would be a struggle to take the kind of insulin that requires carb calculating. I don't think I could do it. But long-acting, once-daily insulin injections (which I was prescribed after A1C was 8.9) aren't much different than taking a pill. After some initial calibration it's just a poke and you're done for the day.

07-31-2013, 09:17 AM

Brooks

Re: Food and Health?

Quote:

Originally Posted by candor

I can see how it would be a struggle to take the kind of insulin that requires carb calculating. I don't think I could do it.

What hubby's endocrinologist wanted him to do was to take an amount of insulin before each meal that was based solely on his glucose level with no consideration for how many carbs he was about to eat. And while he was in the hospital, with congestive heart failure and unregulated diabetes, food service kept sending up high salt, high carb meals. This is a highly respected Boston area hospital system, truly no excuse. It's our emergency room of choice because it's by far the closest one, but I can't take the risk of his going there again and being admitted. I would have to take him all his meals and logistically, last time, that wasn't possible.

07-31-2013, 05:30 PM

Debb70

Re: Food and Health?

Oh my. I ordered toast and grits for breakfast and they told me nooooo, two carbs are not allowed.

It takes awhile to adjust. I take my long acting insulin in the morning and then the other half before bed. Then I take the fast acting, Novolog, first thing in the morning, bedtime and before each meal or snack. I determine how much based on a sliding scale of Blood Sugar minus 100 divided by 25; plus one unit for each 5 carbs I consume. If I don't eat, I just use the sliding scale. It may be unnecessary to take any, but I usually take at least 2-4 units, because I know my body. My blood sugar will go very high even if I eat NO carbs. So, I have to allow for fats and proteins too. It can be complicated.

11-09-2013, 11:29 AM

Gutmutter

Re: Food and Health?

I'm going to take this 3-day weekend to clean out my fridge and pantry. I've been letting "unhealthy" food (sugar, processed foods, fat) creep in. I've done a lot of deep searching about what I want my diet to look like and want to try to align my habits with what I see that as being right now. I hear and read so many conflicting views, it's hard to choose what's right for me. But I do feel that health and diet are strongly connected and I want to improve my health.
The last couple of weekends, I've cooked foods for my lunches and portioned them into containers that make it easy to reach for them in the fridge and throw them in my lunch box in the morning. That's been a successful strategy.
I'm always finding and posting healthy ideas on my Pinterest "Munchies" board, but seldom go back and remind myself of what I wanted to try. So I may do that this weekend, too.

11-09-2013, 03:22 PM

TripleGemini

Re: Food and Health?

My son just got accepted into a military-preparation training program, and starting Monday, he starts a new "lifestyle". (It's sort of a diet, but more along the lines of "here's what you can eat" and "avoid these foods".)

He was told that he can eat whatever he wants this weekend, and he's taking that part seriously. Monday's going to be interesting.

(OTOH, with my husband away during the week, it will be easier for me to prepare food that the kid can eat.)

So...now to pull up all the books, etc., on healthy eating so that I can experiment to find foods that he might like.

One source of Trans fats is oil used too many times for frying. I'm wondering how that is going to be regulated because it is probably a gradual descent into transfatdom depending on how the fast food or other restaurant is managing its cooking oils. Maybe it will further spur the market for bio[cookinggrease]diesel. Even if you don't eat McD fries you'll be able to smell them driving down the street, LOL